26/02/25, 12:59 - I am finally taking the time to watch Basil Rathbone's movie series again! I have to admit I skipped one (1) movie because I was a bit tired of the WW2 oriented plots but honestly if I hadn't done so I wouldn't have gotten around to watching the next movies which I found so much more enjoyable! I actually can't believe I'm having a good time with these instead of suffering through them. The mysteries and the cases are actually interesting to me now. Not to criticise the earlier ones since I know many people do like them, but they were definitely not my thing. I've also somewhat started to like or at least be able to stand this Watson. I don't know if they turned down the whole comic relief thing or if it's just the fact that I'm finding the plots more interesting and overall enjoyable but I must say I don't find him as annoying as I did while watching the previous movies. It's been great.

23/02/25, 20:32 - Okay so I also watched “Sherlock: A Case of Evil” today. This was. Wow. I don't even know where to start talking about this movie, and I don't know if that's good or bad.
It's a really cool reimagining of all the characters and premises of the original (well, kind of, I must say I found Holmes utterly boring without his usual quirks) and a pretty good movie as well, but I can't help but feel uneasy about some of the changes done. I can't say I'm a big fan of Holmes' constant heterosexual romances (and a threesome scene that went on for way too long. It almost sounds like a joke). Most of his character is kind of explained by the fact he's young and inexperienced in this version but, well… I dont think I'm being very objective here… I try to keep an open mind but as it is probably very obvious from my reviews and previous log entries I don't really like when adaptations stray a lot from the original material (for the most part).
I'd say the character that benefited the most from these little details and changes here and there was 100% Watson. This was a really interesting and honestly very likeable take on him that surprised me a LOT. I really liked the detail of him doing the autopsy reports and I loved how the movie showed off his medical knowledge and the whole inventor thing was also a nice touch. I was ready to completely loathe him after seeing how Holmes acted (he is usually the most benefited one of the two) but to my surprise I ended up liking him a LOT more.
I was also very wary of the whole “Moriarty being a supervillain” idea when the movie started but at the end of the day it didn't bother me that much. I just consider it ironic that so many adaptations seem to go with it and I always found it kind of dumb but Vincent D'Onofrio's interpretation was excellent and I ended up pretty satisfied with the character.

In conclusion: I liked Watson, Moriarty, Mycroft and hell, even Lestrade, but I found Holmes to be… boring (and unnecessarily heterosexual, a point I am completely serious about) which is the worst thing a Sherlock Holmes adaptation can be. Oh well. I can't say I didn't have a good time watching it, but considering the absolutely insane 4.1 general rating in Letterboxd I very much came out disappointed. How the hell did that happen? No more trusting ratings on this site, lesson learnt.



23/02/25, 15:27 - Today I watched “Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking”. I don't feel like writing a review since I don't have that many thoughts on this movie but I feel like it's worth it to write it here either way.
First things first, the premise of this movie is kind of insane. I won't clarify simply because I dont think I'm very comfortable discussing the topic - not that it's handled poorly in the movie, I just don't particularly like talking about it - so let's all pretend I'm saving you from spoilers or something of the sort. I had no idea what to expect from it since I had never heard of either of the leading actors or had any idea how the premise was going to be handled, but it actually makes for a pretty decent movie.
As I said before there isn't much for me to say so I'll list some of the notes I've taken and other random thoughts I got while watching:

• I liked both the interpretations of Holmes and Watson, although I must say I ended up liking Watson's over Holmes. That's quite a rare occurrence. Although Rupert Everett is very physically similar to Sidney Paget's illustrations of the original stories, there's something about his Holmes that doesn't quite convince me… Maybe it's just me! I can't put it into words. Ian Hart's Watson on the other hand has pleasantly surprised me. It's an active, intelligent and capable iteration of the character I was really glad to see. I have to say however that whenever he popped up on screen I couldn't stop thinking about this post I saw in Tumblr some weeks ago and for that I am very sorry.
  
  He did a great job though.
• Overall the setting was really nice to see. The costumes and the set, I mean. I don't think I can expand more upon this.

I kind of wish this had gotten a sequel or continuation… They make a very interesting duo and I feel like I would have liked this Holmes more had I gotten to see more of him. Either way, I had a very good time :)

So for now my only plans are to keep watching some of the movies I have on my Letterboxd watchlist and write about them here. I'm thinking of getting back into pastiches and TV shows eventually (mostly since Im watching Dexter and Johnny Lee Miller's guest acting has kind of convinced me to watch Elementary) but that will most likely be later. Right now my watchlist looks like this:

• Young Sherlock Holmes (Which I started and never finished)
• Without a Clue
• Sherlock: Case of Evil
• RDJ's Sherlock Holmes 1 and 2 (Which I have ALSO started and never finished. Whoops.)

Hopefully I'll have made some sort of progress the next time I update. I doubt it.



17/02/25, 22:15 - Well, I can't say I succeeded with the radio drama thing. This just may not be my medium… I find it very hard to concentrate and keep having to go back and re-listen to the last 5 minutes because I was thinking about something else.

Anyway! Not a lot of progress lately. Despite wanting to watch as many adaptations as possible, somehow I keep going back to watching Ronald Howard episodes… I really can't help it! It has me completely hooked and I'm really enjoying the whole “noticing details I hadn't when watching for the first time” thing.

Besides that, today I found out that my mom has been purposefully keeping a Sherlock Holmes book from me. I was devastated. What a traitor! Turns out she owned (I say owned because I have successfully stolen it) an Oxford University Press edition of The Adventure of the Priory School which is actually renamed to be “Sherlock Holmes and the Dukes Son”. From what I understand these are text adaptations for people that are studying English. It's a stage 1 book (There are up to six stages, for reference) so the story is pretty dumbed down. Either way, I wasn't really interested in the text content of the book but I am fascinated by the illustrations done by Ron Tiner. I had never seen these before! I'll take the time to scan these and upload them here later - that is, if my phone collaborates.
Here's a picture of the front and back of the book. Imagine my surprise when I saw Jeremy Brett's face on a random book in my moms collection. It was a bit of a jumpscare.




14/02/25, 11:41 - Happy valentines. I took a bit of a break from Peter Cushing's Holmes and started listening to the BBC Sherlock Holmes radio drama since I've heard wonders of it. It's actually my first time listening to one of these… I'm pretty excited. If I end up liking the medium I may take the time to listen to other, more recent ones.



07/02/25, 13:27 - Thoughts again. A few things I wrote down on my notes earlier today: “It really annoys me when I'm watching any Sherlock adaptation and I take the time to read the comments because I'm interested in knowing the general opinion of other fans and instead I only find 45 comments saying "Jeremy Brett is better" I GET IT! I mean, YES, it is undeniable that Brett one of the best of all time, there is no way to deny such a thing, but if I am watching a series that aired almost 20 years before his, I am not interested in people telling me how great Brett is, let's talk about THIS series, it really can't be that difficult!
I don't know, it's a bit sad that people can't enjoy the other adaptations without having to mention another one they think is better all the time. There's nothing wrong with allowing yourself to watch and appreciate other series from time to time… where's the joy in it otherwise?”
I've found myself more open than ever to watching low-budget, badly written or simply considered “worse” adaptations lately purely out of spite! It is really crazy to me that so many people can't enjoy media without being able to recognize its faults at the same time. I've come across this type of comment while watching many of the older Sherlocks, including Howard, Whitehead, Cushing… even Rathbone! Why not enjoy having so many interpretations of the character to choose from instead of constantly pitting them against each other?
Ah, a pointless rant once again, but this is what this section is here for… It's a pretty good way of putting my thoughts in order.



06/02/25, 23:58 - I have just found out in my search for the episodes of Peter Cushing's BBC show interpretation that at least 70% of the show is completely missing… What a shame, really! I was very excited to be able to watch an entire show with this Holmes. In my research I've also seen a lot of people say the show was pretty low budget and not as good as the movie… but I was still looking forward to it. What a let down, and a sad one at that. I am still going to watch any episodes I may come across. From what I understand only A Study in Scarlet, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Boscombe Valley Mystery, The Sign of Four and The Blue Carbuncle are still available, so I'll do my best to find them. Hopefully I'll have better luck with these than with the Geoffrey Whitehead episodes… I'm still bitter about it!



06/02/25, 21:10 - I watched the 1959 “The Hound of the Baskervilles” movie with Peter Cushing starring as Sherlock Holmes earlier today. I really enjoyed it! I really liked how both Holmes and Watson were interpreted and even though a lot of aspects from the original story were changed, I still feel like it did the novel justice and was a pretty good adaptation overall. I am now going to start watching the 60s series starring Cushing as Holmes as well. I wasn't sure what to expect of his interpretation but I wasn't disappointed whatsoever! I can't formulate a very solid opinion right now though. If I do get around to watching the series then I'll most likely write about it in a future review.



03/02/25, 01:19 - I have recently discovered, much to my annoyance, that Geoffrey Whitehead's Holmes is almost impossible to draw. I'm saying “almost” out of sheer optimism because I've yet to get this man's face right when drawing him. It is pissing me off beyond belief. I've been tirelessly studying his face using my very poor quality screenshots of the show plus the very few ones I've managed to get online that are a bit more decent for the past few days and I still couldn't draw him properly once. I normally wouldn't complain about such a thing since I often come across a lot of people I can't seem to draw properly, but there's two main reasons why it annoys me so much when it comes to this particular adaptation: One, there is practically NO content of this show online. I've managed to read and like three fanfictions in total and have come across absolutely no fanart but my own. It is maddening to be constantly thinking about a show and not having any content or art to engage in. I can't keep watching the same episodes over and over! This is an urge I would usually get rid of by creating my own art, but as you can see it is currently impossible for I can't seem to draw this guy right and my writing fanfiction is absolutely not my thing. Trust me, I've tried on several occasions, but I've come to the conclusion that words and ideas simply do not come to me. Two, I can't seem to find any reason why I can't draw him. I have studied his features over and over; I could recite them from memory. I feel like I understand them fully, and yet- and yet! Whenever I try to put it down on my Clip Studio Paint canvas it just doesn't seem to work. I can't find a logical reason and it's driving me insane. What a rant. I needed a bit of catharsis. I guess I'll have to stick to drawing other adaptations for now if I don't want to have a nervous breakdown. I fear I may be burning myself out.



Still 01/02/25, just a bit later (16:49) - It’s been around 4 months since my Sherlock insanity started. I’m going for the fifth.



01/02/2025, 12:40 - I've been completely neglecting the “thoughts” part of my “Log & other notes or thoughts” section so here is a completely random thought written in a way more informal tone than the rest of my entries. I was rewatching “The case of Harry Crocker” yesterday and I had genuinely forgotten how different this gag is in the original compared to Whitehead's 1980 version… The original is pretty comical, done over with quickly and clearly meant to be taken lightly. Hell, they even laugh at the end of it.

Original scene from the 1954 show

Now what I wonder is why exactly did they decide to make this scene so tense in the remake???????? I feel like I'm interrupting something by just watching it. Not only does Holmes take WAY longer to let go, and only does when pushed away, but Watson looks way more distressed and neither of them laugh or anything, they just stare. it's insane

Remade scene from the 1980 show

In a way I feel like this show makes the original gags even funnier with its dry humor and sometimes too serious tone. It's unintentionally hilarious.



29/01/25, 20:31 - Made myself a little Sherlock Holmes themed bookmark today. It's a bit wonky. I've also started to rewatch some of the first episodes of Ronald Howard's show. I was considering writing a small review for each one of them but I think that may be too ambitious… I don't think I'm that good with words. I will say however that taking the time to watch them a second time has me noticing stuff that I hadn't the first time around, which is very nice. I also really like how rewatchable it is. I think it's mostly due to the short duration of the episodes and the more lighthearted tone of the show. Overall I've been having a really good time.

On an unrelated note, I've been considering moving this shrine to a separate website. I think I may be clogging up my website's feed with the updates of this page, whoops. If the fixation persists I'll probably make a separate website for this but I'm not sure if I should go through with it… I'm a bit worried I'll leave it abandoned whenever the obsession fades. Oh well! It's just an idea. It would be pretty nice to have a separate space (and I feel like it would give me a bit more freedom to start anew) but it's staying here for now.



25/01/25, 17:28 - I watched “A Study in Terror” (1965) yesterday night and I had forgotten that I did until just now. It was a good movie overall. I liked both of the main characters' interpretations and the plot wasn't anything much but I think it worked pretty well. I must admit I had already guessed what the resolution would be halfway in but I don't think that makes a movie bad - just a bit predictable. Also, the murder scenes were just plain funny. I couldn't believe the first one was supposed to be an actual murder scene. But either way! I had a pretty good time, it's a very good choice if you don't want something that takes itself too seriously.



18/01/25, 12:45 - Not much to say, just wanted to note I watched “My Dearly Beloved Detective” today. I absolutely loved it… I'm considering looking for more ‘genderbent’ (what is the proper term?) adaptations of Sherlock Holmes for I had a very good time with this one. Loved how they handled the idea as well. I was a bit wary going into it since, well, it is a 1986 movie after all. But it was remarkably good! I was very pleasantly surprised.



16/01/25, 11:55 - Hello, long time no update. Happy new year! I started 2025 by still being insane about Sherlock Holmes and have continued to watch and read some adaptations but I haven't updated until now since I was on vacation and very far away from my computer… :(
I finally finished reading Horowitz´s House of Silk and god it was INCREDIBLE. I dont think I'll ever find another pastiche that will top that. I don't feel like writing a review so I'll just note some of my thoughts here: The writing was excellent, both Holmes and Watson were properly characterized and the reveal at the end left me speechless - maybe I should have connected the dots earlier but I really had no idea where the case would go! Im now considering what other pastiches I can read but I want a bit of a break before I actually start reading any.
Besides that, I also started and (kind of) finished watching Geoffrey Whitehead's Holmes a few days ago. In fact I've already written a review since I had quite a lot of thoughts on it. I am a bit disappointed that I can't seem to find the full thing anywhere though.. I watched 20 of the 24 episodes and can't seem to find the rest ANYWHERE else. I've heard there were some reuploads on YouTube a few years back that had the audio randomly changed into German but I'm pretty sure they have since then been deleted. Either way I had a pretty good time watching the rest.
I'm not sure where to go on from here when it comes to audiovisual adaptations though. I started watching RDJs Holmes a few weeks back but haven't really finished either of the movies because I really don't like the action genre. I've heard it is a very good adaptation but I just can't get myself to watch it! It bores me out of my mind D: I'm sure I'll get back to them eventually, just not right now. That does leave a bit lost though… I'm thinking maybe Peter Cushing? I've heard he has various interpretations throughout the years. The thing is that I know next to nothing about those so I'm not sure if they'll be my cup of tea. Oh well! I'll have to try.

That 's it for now. Hopefully next time I'll have made up my mind on what to watch.



24/12/24, 12:55 - Well! I finished Ronald Howard’s Sherlock Holmes yesterday. Lots of thoughts to share on a future review :)
I’ve also started reading House of Silk, although I am taking it particularly slow. I feel like it’s a bit of a heavy book to read in English since it isn't my first language. I can’t comment much on it because I've only read a chapter and a half though… So far so good. It really does feel like reading Sherlock - I was a bit worried that the change of author would make it feel radically different, but it didn’t. Still, it’s too early to judge! I am still debating what to do next. I have a LOT of movies on my watchlist and not as many shows so I think I’ll tackle the movies first so that the difference isn't that huge. Since I just finished Howard’s adaptation I think I’ll keep watching some of the more comical / lighthearted versions so that the change isn't that abrupt. Maybe the cartoon ones? I’ve been considering The Great Mouse Detective for a while now, so that’s most likely what’s next. Besides future plans I don’t have much else to say. I finished reading one of the books I bought for my collection and it was pretty fun. I actually have never been a fan of re-reading books but for some reason I had a pretty good time going over the stories again. I’ll also re-read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and, if possible, I want to share some of the original illustrations my book has here.



17/12/24, 19:50 - Not exactly sure which direction this entry is going to go. I want to do a quick recap of what I’ve been watching lately because I’m pretty sure there’s some stuff I missed. First of all, as I am pretty sure I have actually mentioned before, I started and kind of didn’t finish watching the Basil Rathbone movies. I am pretty sure it’s staying that way for a while… I’ll retake them eventually but to be completely honest I wasn’t fully enjoying them and I was struggling to actually pay attention to the films lately so I decided it’s for the best if I try watching them some other time.
But I needed some other adaptation to watch in the meantime, of course. I came across Wilder’s “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes” while looking for recommendations and spent 15 minutes downloading the movie on a random Tuesday and consequently leaving everyone else in the house without wifi. I only got back home at 1 o'clock in the morning so even though I really, really tried to finish watching it that same night, I had to give up half-way in and go to sleep. I finished the rest the next morning though, so my memories of the first half were quite fresh. Anyway! I had a really good time watching it. It's charming, funny and quite entertaining - there’s definitely some critiques to make, especially on the story department and, well, the fact I don’t think the title of the movie is very fitting - but overall I loved it. It was very refreshing.

I also watched the first episode of Sherlock BBC because my brother had to answer a series of questions about the series as homework for his literature class, and I was very much excited to be able to help him with Sherlock-related homework. I am thinking about what I want to say here very carefully for I fear this is quite the controversial adaptation: I don’t think this show is my cup of tea whatsoever. I can certainly see the appeal, and maybe eventually if I run out of practically every other adaptation in existence I might give it a chance, but I don’t think I’ll like it personally. I’ve never been a big fan of modern adaptations and I’m not sure I like how the characters are adapted… I understand in order to adapt it contemporaneously sometimes you have to modify aspects of their personality to make it work but they just feel like completely different characters to me, and very unlikeable characters at that. This may be an unpopular opinion! I’m just stating what I thought while watching ONE episode. Still, I don’t think I’ll be coming back to it anytime soon. I failed to take it seriously… multiple times… and if I wasn’t watching it for literature class homework I would have genuinely turned off my computer at the “high functioning sociopath” line. I am trying to be objective and neutral really badly, but at times it felt corny and ‘cringy’ (I really don’t like that word but it’s quite close to what I want to express) which is completely fine in a Sherlock adaptation and I can usually withstand - some of my favorites are pretty corny - but for some reason it made this particular version completely unwatchable for me. Maybe because I felt it was taking itself too seriously, or because I went in knowing full well that it’s a bit controversial and my expectations weren’t very high, but I’m not quite sure.

Either way, after the failure of trying to watch BBC Sherlock, I decided to start watching Ronald Howard’s adaptation which I was way more likely to actually enjoy. My predictions were right and it has since become one of my favorites… I feel like saying this is a bit hypocritical considering I just spent an entire paragraph talking about how dumb I felt BBC’s Sherlock was, but I can’t help it! I wish I could make a long analysis and say my love for Howard’s version is completely justified and that it’s the best thing ever, but I think it all comes down to me having bad taste. So sorry to say that. The episodes are short and flow quite well, making it very easy to watch which is definitely a big factor, but I think it’s mostly because I am enamoured with Howard’s young and energetic interpretation of the character. This series is so dumb, some of the cases kind of suck, it’s quick, low-budget, very far off from canon and way too summarized, but the interpretation of both the main actors have completely sold it to me. I'm genuinely having a blast with this one and I can't find a logical explanation for it. Some things I have noted down that may contribute to this completely nonsensical explanation are that (1) I really like how the characters are interpreted, even though they differ a bit from canon, (2) I also really like the way Holmes and Watson interact with each other and their dynamic is very fun to watch and (3) it manages to be quite funny without having to make Watson a complete idiot. In fact, it was very refreshing to see an older adaptation that actually manages to balance out their personalities and make them complement each other so well!

Well, I think this is about it. Some notes for the next entry: I’m going to keep watching Howard’s adaptation and I’m also considering starting to read some pastiches. I’ll update on that whenever I feel like writing again.



13/12/24, 12:13 - Translating some of my personal notes for the sake of archiving once again.
“00:22, 13 Dec: I started watching Ronald Howard’s Sherlock Holmes. I’m 24 seconds in and the audio quality of the 50s makes me very nostalgic - it feels like being 10 years old and watching El Zorro on Canal Trece again.
3:23, 13 Dec: Since I don’t have access to my Sherlock log right now, I’ll write this down here so I don’t forget: When I was looking for Sherlock adaptations in B&W I honestly thought I was going to like Basil Rathbone’s interpretation the most, simply because it seems to be the most popular one… I must admit I am having a much better time watching Howard’s. I think this version, from what little I’ve seen, does manage to maintain a certain balance between Holmes and Watson so that they complement each other - Watson is still a bit dumb but I feel he’s far more useful than Nigel Bruce’s, who I feel like is only really there as a comic relief character. Anyway, I really liked how they developed their first encounter and the start of their friendship in the first episode and all the little interactions between the two that came in the next ones. I really like it when an adaptation takes the time to develop their relationship outside of the cases a bit further. In conclusion: It helped a bit with getting back into watching adaptations, since I haven’t felt like watching much lately, mostly because I can’t really get into the 1939 film series - Nothing against Rathbone, he’s marvelous! I just really can’t stand the Watson of his version. I think I may not watch the rest of his movies :( “



07/12/24, 18:15 - I finished watching Granada today! I'll wait until I can write a proper review before actually sharing my thoughts on it though. All I can say right now is that it was wonderful and I enjoyed it a lot.
On another note, I started watching Basil Rathbone's Sherlock movies and I wanted to note down some of my thoughts on it before I forget:

• I really like Rathbone's interpretation of the character and honestly physically speaking he's very close to what I imagined Holmes looked like when I first started reading the books, but I can't say I like Nigel Bruce's Watson… no disrespect to the actor whatsoever! He just feels… unnecessarily stupid? Maybe that's just how he came off to me, but it just feels like a really REALLY dumbed down version of Watson that I'm not quite sure I like, and honestly this exceedingly comical interpretation of the character weirds me out so much that I can't even find him funny. That's just me though! Don't take me too seriously, maybe I'll like him more overtime.
• It takes so many creative liberties? I don't understand why though. I only watched the Hound of Baskervilles and I know a lot of the next few movies are completely original cases but I can't wrap my head around why exactly they would change the most insignificant details of the story for apparently no reason whatsoever. Once again this is only a first impression so I may be wrong about this as well.

04/12/24, 18:20 - Translating some notes I have on Granada for the sake of keeping this log accurate and up to date; these are only my initial thoughts so maybe they'll change in the future, please don't take me too seriously!
“I have very few Granada Holmes episodes left but I'm finding it really hard to actually watch. I think it may be the whole “stretching short cases into 2 hour long specials” thing; they feel a bit stretched out and excessively long to me. I feel like it isn't really working… Some of the cases felt too long and confusing to me, which is quite a shame because I think the series is impeccable in every other aspect but this one. The only exception to this I can think of is “The Master Blackmailer” because there wasn't any weirdly complicated added narrative to extend the duration of the case and whenever it did add new details to it, they felt like they actually fit in quite well with the original story and therefore improved upon it. This does worry me a little. I don't want my image or opinion on this series to change dramatically because of a few “bad” episodes, but I think this is just happening to me because I'm nearing the end of it and I'm forgetting to consider how much I have enjoyed some of the earlier episodes.”



03/12/24, 19:59 - I got a new book today! Spanish edition of “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”. I'm pretty excited to read this one as well since it has some of my favorite short stories and the illustrations are also really cool… I like when certain editions have the original Sidney Paget ones but seeing other artists interpretations of the character is great as well.
Besides that there isn't really much for me to say. I'm still watching Granada Holmes (I underestimated just how long it is, I think… it's taking a lot of time!) and I'm currently at “The Last Vampyre”, which is… Well, I haven't finished it yet so I can't judge much, but I can't say I'm not really a fan of how they are stretching the story out… I'm not sure why exactly they decided to turn some of the shorter stories into almost 2 hour long specials…?? and I'm also not quite sure it's working? But whatever! I'm really hoping I end up liking some of them because “The Master Blackmailer” was REALLY good. There's definitely an analysis to be made of that episode that I don't have the brain capacity to actually write, but overall the adaptation was incredible.
This is all I noted down for now, so this entry ended up being really short. Hopefully I'll have more to say eventually.



26/11/24, 18:03 - Quick update today as I do not particularly feel like writing. I finished “The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes” yesterday, 25th of November, 2024… I have some mixed feelings. I am of course a bit sad about being done with the books and I've realized since finishing them that they were taking up a lot of my free time and I'm not really sure what to do with it now, but simultaneously I am glad that I did manage to reach the goal I had set for myself. I plan to watch as many adaptations as possible now and hopefully shortly review them. Not promising much though, I can't seem to find any motivation to write one for the soviet adaptation.
Anyway! I'm still watching Granada Holmes. Even as I write this I am watching the 25th episode “The Bruce Partington Plans”. There's not much I can say about this show I haven't said before; as I predicted I enjoy Edward Hardwicke's Watson just as much, but there's nothing else I can or want to comment on right now.



24/11/24, 18:22 - GOT A NEW BOOK! GAAHHAHHH!! Oh my god I am incredibly excited! It's a spanish translated edition of "His Last Bow", got it on a bookstore while on a trip to a nearby city. Contrary to what I thought would happen, Sherlock books are surprisingly hard to find? I had to visit at least 3 different bookstores and this was the ONLY book I found. Anyway - look at that cover, it's incredible! It also has all of the official Sidney Paget illustrations. Overall it is super nice! The quality is exceptional compared to the only other book of the saga I have and it has a lot of nice details. I'm planning to start reading it whenever I'm done with "The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes" just so I can actually finish my goal of reading them all but I'm very very excited.



20/11/24, 15:47 - Finished “His Last Bow” some days ago and I've read a few of the stories in “The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes”. I am SO nervous! I'm a bit scared to be so close to the end… I have an infinity of different adaptations on all mediums to watch, read or listen to when i'm done, obviously, but i can't help but feel sad it's coming to an end. It is also a bit ridiculous to take this so seriously. I can't help it though! It's been practically invading my daily thoughts and reading a few stories a day has practically become part of my daily routine. I fear I am going to miss it a lot.
Anyway… I don't think there is much I can say about the books to be completely honest. I've been enjoying them a lot, don't get me wrong! I just dont think there's much for me to comment on. I must admit though that I feel like case-wise the first stories were a bit better… but the general focus and development of Holmes and Watson's relationship totally makes up for it. I like to keep track of the little moments they share outside of cases and I dont think ive highlighted any of the other books as much as the last two!
Overall, it's been great. As much as I am a bit scared to finish the last book, I am also incredibly excited to get to watch other adaptations and have a better base for understanding or forming an opinion on them. Does that make sense? I feel like that now that I know what the originals are like it's going to be much easier to formulate better opinions on any adaptations I may watch in the future and I guess in a way make a better job when writing reviews for this page. Do not expect anything particularly good, though. I've never been a fan of being objective when rating things. It's probably a bad thing but I also do not really care.
On the topic of reviews, I still have to write one for “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson”! I've finally read all the cases needed to actually understand the ending but I fear I may still have to rewatch the episodes to genuinely comprehend what happened in them. I am still a bit confused on why exactly they were so hard for me to get through… it has some weird jumps in time that are honestly necessary to be able to narrate the events in a way that makes sense to the viewer but also stay true to the original adaptation - noticed this particularly when reading “His Last Bow”, as in, the story by that name included at the end of the book - but even knowing that it was just really hard for me to process for whatever reason… I definitely have to rewatch those eventually.
I've decided I'll pick Granada Holmes back up as soon as I'm done with this book. If i'm not mistaken, from the second season on David Burke doesn't play Watson anymore. I'm a bit sad about it! But I'm sure I'll like Edward Hardwicke's Watson just as much. Well, on a completely different and a bit irrelevant topic, this friday im going out to a nearby city to hang out with some friends and we included going to some bookstores in the zone in our plans. Sherlock Holmes books are certainly easy to find… I'm really hoping I get lucky with the prizes so that I MAY be able to expand my collection. I would not bet on it though… Either way it would be fun to encounter one in the wild. Pretend I'm not talking about one of the most popular book franchises of all time for a second, okay? I get excited over silly stuff like that when it comes to my interests.
Oh, and speaking of my collection! I've expanded it just a little bit. It's not really much, but DIYs are a must, so I've added a few of them. This tiny Sherlock dedicated corner of my shelf was kind of a spur of the moment type of thing and I've always been a bit shy to even HAVE stuff of my fixations, so my mom was definitely surprised when she walked in and noticed the miniature shrine that seemed to pop out of nowhere. Here's a picture of it:



Well, that's about it for today. Not exactly sure when the next update to this will be. Maybe after I finish the book? I guess we'll see.



17/11/24, 02:04 - No actual update yet - all I really have to say is that I did manage to finish Valley of Fear - but I felt the need to share this picture of my Sherlock collection I took earlier because I've been seeing a lot of people's collections lately.



The hat is very poorly done simply because I do not have a printer so I had to manually draw and re-scale a papercraft guide that is originally meant to fit in your head... Needless to say it was very hard to figure out the dimensions and I fucked it up a lot of times. Oh and I also actually accidentaly stole that book from a classmate. I have no intention of ever giving it back though... so sorry to that guy but I don't think he cares much about it.



15/11/24, 20:59 - Finished the first season of Granada Holmes! It was spectacular :) Both Jeremy Brett and David Burke's interpretations of their respective characters are incredible… exactly how i imagined both characters to be! Overall the show was super fun to get into and I found myself constantly wanting to watch another episode… usually while doing important stuff like studying… but the show was just that good! I think all of the cases were adapted wonderfully and it was very nice to revisit some of the first ones I had kind of forgotten. I think since it's so early on there's not much for me to say, but if i had to pick my favorite episode so far it would definitely be “The Red Headed League”, i genuinely found it hilarious??? Leaving some of my favorite scenes from the case below so I can share:

Favorite scenes from "The Red Headed League"

I'll wait a bit before watching the second season though. I want to at least finish The Valley of Fear and maybe a bit of His Last Bow before I continue, simply because I feel like I've been neglecting the whole reading aspect… mostly because I'm struggling with the Valley of Fear… it's been good so far but i can't seem to fully focus when reading it. Plus I just got to the second part of the book and there's no Sherlock, no Watson… How do they expect me to keep reading under these conditions… I think the story is interesting enough to keep going though! I expect to finish it soon.



8/11/24, 19:14 - I had already written this update around a week ago, but I did so during class and my phone randomly decided to delete all of my recent notes… Needless to say, I am very pissed off. Still! I'll try to remember what thoughts exactly I had shared on that now lost entry, and complement it with whatever new stuff has come up.
I believe I mentioned on my last update that I had just finished The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes and was now starting the Hound of Baskervilles. I finished the novel around a week ago, I think? While I was supposed to be reading geography class material… in my defense I had only 10 pages left!
I'm pretty sure there aren't many thoughts I can share about it though. I had my opinion on the story pretty much covered on my last entry and, considering how incredibly close to the original story the soviet adaptation is, there isn't really anything new or different to remark. In fact, I was surprised at how well the show adapted the story - not that I found the original one uninteresting, but it gave all of the characters such an unique touch that definitely made the story just a bit more interesting! Also, the bits where Sherlock was absent were not as tedious to get through as I thought they could have been and I'm very glad about that.
Anyway, moving on: I finished “The Return of Sherlock Holmes” and i've read only the first chapter of “Valley of Fear”. I've only just started the novel so there isn't much i can say about, if at all, but The Return was very good! I can't tell if I liked the short stories more than the ones on The Memoirs though… I loved both of them!
On another, and possibly last note, I also finished watching The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (often referred by me as “the soviet adaptation”; it's just easier). I know I said I'd finish reading the books first but I couldn't wait! Right as I predicted in my last entry, I didn't really understand much. The jumps in time were confusing me A LOT… and I'm pretty sure I didn't understand the last case whatsoever. Whenever I get to actually reading the original stories I'm sure I'll finish processing what I've watched and I'll finally be able to appreciate the ending even more, but even now I can say I absolutely loved the series! I was going to go more in depth on this, but I feel like it's better if I save up what first impressions I've got for later whenever I actually get around to writing a short review of the show. All you really need to know right now is that I am completely fascinated by it.
Thats around it. Not exactly sure when i'll update this… right now I still have to finish Valley of Fear and as of, right now, I am also going to start watching the Granada Sherlock Holmes adaptation - I checked the episode list and made sure I had read all of the cases of at least the first season - so maybe I'll write another one of these reporting on my progress on the future, and a proper review for the show eventually... not promising it will be anytime soon.



3/11/2024, 16:50 - Just finished reading “The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes”. Loved it! I found the short cases to be even more interesting than the ones on “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”. I have already seen a TV adaptation of “The Final Problem” - specifically the soviet one - but reading the original story was really interesting and I was really glad to be able to understand Watson's perspective on the matter a bit better… It does leave me wondering how exactly the matter of, well, Sherlock “coming back to life” and all is going to be handled later on, if at all. The Soviet version did what in my very inexperienced opinion I consider an amazing job at handling both his supposed death and his return (way more emotional than what I expected! which is exactly what I was looking for in a Sherlock adaptation), so I'm pretty curious to see what it was like originally and be able to compare it a bit more accurately to any shows or movies I may watch in the future.
So far so good! I'm very excited to start reading "The Hound of Baskervilles" as well. I saw the soviet adaptation for it and I found the story to be very interesting - I was particularly fond of the “supernatural” or almost “horror” aspect the story has to it - and I really want to compare it to the original novel. Not sure if the parts where Sherlock is not present will be as interesting as they are on the show… I'm really hoping they are. I'd hate to get bored of it half-way through! It almost happened to me with “A Study in Scarlet”, to be completely honest.
Besides that, I want to finish reading at least what I consider essential for understanding the two episodes of “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson” I have left before I attempt to watch them again. Believe me, I tried my best to comprehend what was going on while watching the first part of episode 10, but I believe there's some context I'm missing that I may be able to understand better later on if I've actually read the original stories. If I'm not mistaken, the stories portrayed in those two episodes I've yet to read are "The Adventure of the Second Stain", "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans" and "His Last Bow", all of which are in books I'm not even close to getting to just yet… I have to finish “The Return of Sherlock Holmes” to get the first one, then “The Valley of Fear” and only then I can read the other two on “His Last Bow”. I could technically just skip to those but I want to keep up the structure I've been following lately. I think this is all I have to comment on so far… I'll update as soon as I'm done with the Hound of Baskervilles :)